Ran
by Panseru
Summary: (shonen-ai, YY) Yami's 'secret' name is known to virtually everyone; but with this one name, everything he and Yugi have fought for is in jeopardy...
1. Information

Ran

Information

Pan: Right, well, I've written a very complicated story, that requires some explaining. I have this huge, thick book on Ancient Egypt. I was reading it, and I came up with the idea for this fic. However, there is some very important things I need to explain before you read the story, because it's very confusing if I don't.

Egyptian Pharaohs frequently had five names. These were, the Horus name, the Nebty name, the Golden Horus name, the Prenomen name and the Nomen name. However, there was one more, the Ran name, and this is the one that is most important.

On birth, all Egyptians were given two names, the Ran or the True Name and a nickname (the 'good little name'). The naming ceremony was conducted in secret. The child would be given both names, but from that moment on, they were always called by their nickname. This was the Egyptians believed that to know someone's true name was to have complete power over the person. The Ran was never disclosed to anyone, and was not even recorded on gravestones or the like, because it could control the person even after death. The Prenomen was the name that most people would call the Pharaoh by.

In the first chapter, there is the name 'Nfr Kkwy Ib Dt Anx Atemu'. In this 'Atemu' is the Ran. The rest means 'Good, Dark Heart, Eternal Life'. Kkwy means Dark, and is the 'good, little name'.

All of the start of the first chapter is taken from a bit in my book about the Judgement of Souls.

Also, 'Bakura' is Yami Bakura, and 'Ryou' is the Hikari.

The storyline of Yu-Gi-Oh! has been changed slightly, but not too much.

Despite all this complicated stuff, I hope you enjoy 'Ran'!


	2. Chapter 1: The Judgement of Atemu

Ran

Chapter One: The Judgement of Atemu

_Hail, unto you, O great god, you who are lord of truth!_

_Lo! I draw nigh to thee now, O my lord, and my eyes behold your beauty._

_You I know, and I know also the two-and-forty gods assembled with you in the hall of justice;_

_They observe all the deeds of the wicked;_

_They devour those who seek to do evil;_

_They drink the blood of those who are condemned before, O just and good king._

_Hail! Lord of Justice, you I know,_

_I come before you even now to speak what is true;_

_I will not utter what is false, O Lord of All._

The shaking soul paused in his recitation, the eyes of the Gods burning into him. Anubis and Horus, who led him by the hands; Thoth, who stood by the scale, waiting to record the verdict; Ma'at, who stood holding her symbol, an ostrich feather, the feather that the soul's heart would be weighed against; Isis and Nepthys, the two goddesses; the forty-two various other gods sitting around the Hall of Judgement; finally, Osiris, the King of the Dead. Silence rang through the hall, no word uttered, until the soul spoke the ritual confession.

_I have done no evil against any man._

_I have never caused my kinsfolk to be put to death._

_I have not caused false witnesses to speak in the hall of justice._

_I have not done that which is hated by the gods._

_I am not a worker of wickedness._

_I have never oppressed a servant with too much work._

_I have not caused men to hunger nor to weep._

_I have not been devoid of good works, nor have I acted weakly or with meanness._

_I am not a murderer._

_I have not conspired to have another put to death._

_I have plotted to make another grieve._

_I have not taken away temple offerings._

_I have not stinted the food offered to the gods._

_I have not despoiled the dead._

_I have never committed adultery._

_I have not failed to keep myself pure as a priest._

_I have not lessened the corn measure._

_I have not shortened the hand measure._

_I have not tampered with the balance._

_I have not deprived children of milk._

_I have not stolen cattle from the meadows._

_I have not snared the birds consecrated to the gods._

_I have not taken fish from holy lakes._

_I have not prevented water from running._

_I have not turned aside the water._

_I have not stolen water from a channel._

_I have not put out the fire when it should burn._

_I have never kept from the Nine Gods what was their due._

_I have not prevented the temple cattle from grazing on my land._

_I have not obstructed a god when he came forth._

Osiris nodded. The soul's heart was placed on one side of the scale. Ma'at carefully placed her feather onto the opposite side.

_O heart that was mine!_

The soul called out.

_Do not say 'behold the things he has done'. Permit me not to be wronged in the presence of the great god!_

The silence rang on as the echo died. The soul shut his eyes, awaiting the verdict. He heard the scratch of pen on papyrus, the slow footsteps of Thoth as he walked to Osiris, to tell him of the verdict. 

Nothing happened. The soul dared to open one eye. Osiris was looking down on him. 

**He has won the victory.**

The god spoke quietly. The soul breathed a slow sigh of relief.

**But it is not your time.**

_What?!_

The words escaped his lips before he could think. The god smiled slightly.

**You shall not be permitted entrance to the Fields of Aalu. You are without a ka, great though you were. You, Soul of the Master of the Shadows, will be imprisoned in this golden item.**

A glittering, reversed pyramid appeared around the soul's neck.

**Until such a time as you are awakened by your loving ka. You will have second life, and when you and your ka return here, you shall both pass into Aalu, and take up your tasks in the Afterlife.**

Thoth scribbled on his papyrus scroll again, and Anubis and Horus released the soul's hands.

**I wish you luck, Son of Ra, Lord of the Two Lands, Pharaoh Nfr Kkwy Ib Dt Anx Atemu.**

_My ran..._

**Do not tell anyone your _ran_ name, use your second, Kkwy, your good little name. Your _ran_ name shall be stricken from records; yours is too powerful to be known.**

The soul, named Kkwy, dissolved in gold, and the pyramid clattered to the ground.

--~~--

Yami sat up suddenly in bed, his eyes wide. 'Was that... a dream or a memory...?' he thought slowly. In a bed on the opposite side of the room, Yugi slept on peacefully. Yami sighed, feeling for the second chain about his neck; the one which held the the silver cartouche that Anzu had given to him. He held the small pendant up before his eyes, the metal shining in the dim light before dawn. Onto it was carefully carved 'Atemu', the name he had re-discovered in the search for his memories. Yet, in his dream, the god Osiris had told him that this was his Ran, the name that no-one else was ever meant to know. To know his Ran was to have complete power over him; in life and death. But everyone knew it! Yugi, Anzu, Jonouchi, even Malik, Bakura and Kaiba knew it, and those three would be the ones who would know how it could be used.

Yami had to smile slightly though; he had been awakened by Yugi, his 'loving ka' as Osiris had told him. 'At least I know I will pass into Duat, and into the fields of Aalu... though that is little comfort...' he thought, laying back on the pillows.

~~--~~

"You are sure that this name is his Ran? Not his Prenomen?" Malik whispered excitedly. "We really can gain control of the Shadows through him?" Bakura nodded. "Yes, yes. 'Atemu' is his Ran, most certainly not his Prenomen, because that was Kkwy." he said hastily. "I just need to get the right spell, and that shouldn't be too hard, for you at least."

Malik smiled darkly. "If there was a spell for it, I can find it." he said. "Just make sure that Ryou does not find out, because he'll warn Yugi and 'Kkwy'." Bakura frowned a little; the bed creaked in the room overhead as Ryou moved in his sleep. "But I have the feeling we may need a priest's help in this..." he commented slowly. "You forget I still have this." Malik smirked, holding up the Millennium Rod. "Seto Kaiba will have no choice but to 'help' us. Yami's held us back long enough; but it was his own mistake of letting everyone know what his Ran is that's going to do him in."

--~~--

"What are you thinking about, Yami?" Yugi asked, observing the distant look on his darker's face as they walked to school together. Yami sighed. "Yugi, what is my name?" he asked quietly. Yugi blinked. "Which one? 'Yami' is the name you took to stay here with me, and 'Atemu' is your old one." the smaller boy answered, confused. Yami looked towards the sky. "That's the problem." he said. Sensing that he would have to explain more, he looked back at Yugi.

"I had a dream last night, more like a memory; Osiris told me not to tell anyone my name. In Egypt, everyone had two names, a Ran and a nickname. I had five or six because I was Pharaoh, but anyway... the Ran had to be kept secret because it was our true name; if anyone knew it, it could be used to cast spells and things." Yami explained slowly. "Kkwy was my nickname, and Atemu was my Ran." Yugi blinked, allowing a few seconds for the information to sink into his mind. "So... anyone who knows that your true name is Atemu can cast spells on you?" he said carefully. Yami nodded, looking forwards. "They can curse me, they can even control me. I'm just worried that Bakura or Malik will do something. My true name is too powerful to be known, because one could gain access to the powers of the Shadows and the Yami-No-Games through it."

"Let's just hope..." Yugi said.

~~--~~

Pan: Please tell me what you think, because if you guys like it, I'll write more of it. This was just some random idea I came up with.


End file.
